India brides get wooden paddles to beat drunk husbands

Agence France-Presse

An Indian state minister has given hundreds of wooden bats to newly-wed brides, urging them to use the paddle as a weapon if their husbands turn alcoholic or abusive. Sam Panthaky, AFP

NEW DELHI - An Indian state minister has given hundreds of wooden bats to newly-wed brides, urging them to use the paddle as a weapon if their husbands turn alcoholic or abusive.

Gopal Bhargava gave the bats -- which are used to get dirt out of clothes in traditional laundries -- to nearly 700 brides at a mass wedding organised by the government of central Madhya Pradesh state on Saturday.